On Tuesday 27 September, the issues of human rights and political oppression in Benin were raised at the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, composed of 47 member states, in which Benin is occupying a seat until 2024. An oral statement co-sponsored by two NGOs, CAP/ Liberté deConscience (France) and Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) expressed…
On September 15-16, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) summit will be held in the historic Uzbek city of Samarkand. At the upcoming event, the leaders of the SCO countries will come together for the first time in three years in a face-to-face format, one that will be a unique and effective opportunity to discuss the…
Patrice Talon, President of Benin, is visiting Paris to address MEDEF International’s France-West Africa Business Council tomorrow on Tuesday 30 August 2022. President Talon hopes to have an economic focus to his visit. However NGOs and human rights groups are voicing concerns over the regression that has taken place in Benin since 2016 in terms…
The EU has been urged to intervene in the case of a former Bangladeshi PM who claims to be under house arrest in the country, despite being seriously ill. Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the…
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) completed its fourth quarter funding needs on Monday, raising the full €2 billion it had targeted The ESM issued a new €2 billion 0% bond maturing on 16 December 2024. The spread was fixed at mid-swaps minus 8 basis points, for a reoffer yield of -0.582% and a new issue…
The European Parliament has set up a new Special Committee on Cancer, one of several new committees being launched by the institution. To mark the occasion, the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA), a pro-vaping advocacy group based in Brussels, has launched a campaign calling on the EU institutions to endorse vaping in the EU Cancer Plan…
Ukraine, like other European countries, is experiencing a crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In the energy sector, this is reflected by a significant decline in electricity consumption. However, the situation is further compounded by an ongoing systemic crisis in the sector. Even before the Coronavirus outbreak Ukraine’s energy sector was facing enormous challenges, with…
The Yak-130 combat training aircraft was designed by Yakovlev Design Bureau along with Italy’s Aermacchi, and production was launched in 2009 by the Irkut Corporation in Russia, writes John Buchan. One of the strengths of the plane was a Ukrainian designed AI-222-25 engine created by Ivchenko-Progress SOE. The engine was subsequently produced by Russia’s Salyut…
